


over the weekend we could turn the world to gold

by fullmetalruby



Series: febslash fembruary [3]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Femslash February 2021, sheik never comes out as zelda and is addressed as "he" the whole time but malon Knows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:20:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29194452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullmetalruby/pseuds/fullmetalruby
Summary: Malon only sees the girl once.Sheik stays with them for 6 weeks.[Femslash February 2021 | Day 3 | Secret Identities]
Relationships: Malon/Sheik (Legend of Zelda), Malon/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Series: febslash fembruary [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139714
Kudos: 10





	over the weekend we could turn the world to gold

**Author's Note:**

> i have decided to switch over to a new prompt list for fsf, this time being the timbitat one but the sfw one because i dont write smut
> 
> title is from "Run Away With Me" by our lord and savior Carly Rae Jepsen

Malon only sees the girl once.

It’s the light of the moon that wakes her, and thirst that drives her from her bed, but it’s voices from the other room stop her in her tracks. One of the voices is her father’s, as familiar to her as her own, barely quieter than his normal speaking voice. Malon is usually a heavy sleeper-- he wouldn’t have to worry about being loud.

“... some of my wife’s things, they should fit.”

The voice which responds to him is new-- a woman’s, Malon thinks, deep and smooth. It’s comforting and heavy, like the warm quilt on Malon’s bed. “Anything you have will do.”

The door is already open just a tiny bit, letting a sliver of firelight through from the other room. Malon considers it for only a bare moment, then tiptoeing over to peek through the opening. Everything is in its proper place, from the chairs before the fireplace to the flowers on the mantelpiece, but Malon sees not only one but two unfamiliar figures with her father by the fire, blocking the light.

One of the figures is the woman she heard before. She’s tall, with short pale hair and full plate armor on her upper body. From what Malon can see of her face, she’s handsome. From what she can see of her shoulders, Malon knows she’s dangerous. Malon has never seen a person hold themselves quite like that, but it reminds her of the wild, half-starved animals that surround the farm on moon-filled nights and howl at the darkened sky.

At the woman’s feet, standing, though you wouldn’t know it given the difference in height, is a girl about Malon’s age-- or a boy with long hair and a skirt. She’s turned with her back to the fire and Malon’s father, she can’t make out much more than that.

“Let’s get this over with.” The woman hands Talon a knife behind the girl’s back. The girl doesn’t move. Malon’s heart races-- what is her father about to do to that girl?

He grabs her hair. He bunches it up in his hand. Malon gasps, and the girl’s gaze flicks up to make dead eye contact.

Her eyes are blue.

In the light, her hair glitters like gold where it falls to the floor. The rest falls, jagged and uneven, around her round face, casting her eyes back into shadow. There’s the rustling of fabric and her shoulders curl around her ears. The woman shoves a bundle of clothes at the girl.

“I’ll leave you to change,” Talon says, and starts walking towards the door. Malon panics, and sneaks back to bed as quickly as she dares. She’s not thirsty anymore. In the morning, she’ll find the woman and the girl to be gone, and she’ll ask her father how he slept, and pretend to believe him.

Malon wonders whether her father knew she was there. She’s never been good at sneaking around. But she never asks, and he never brings it up, and together they forget about the woman and the girl.

* * *

The sky is warm above her, and the grass is cool below her, and the horses stand guard around her as she lies in the paddock. Her work for the day is mostly done: all she has left is to make dinner, but she doesn’t need to start that for _hours_ yet. Malon adjusts her position a bit and hunkers on hown for a nap.

“Excuse me.” The voice that booms across the paddock is familiar to her like something that appeared in a dream. Malon looks up and tries to find the voice, eventually twisting around to see--

A tall woman, imposing, with short pale hair and worn travelling clothes. Behind her is a blonde kid, about the same size as Malon, dressed much the same. For a moment, Malon thinks that it might be her fairy boy, finally coming back after four years away, but the eyes are a different color and his stance is completely different. He has a scarf hiding the bottom half of his face, and his hair hides half of what’s left. All that Malon can make out is a single crimson eye.

“Do you work here?”

Malon cracks her neck as she approaches the pair. “Can I help you with something?”

The woman nods. “I am looking for Talon.”

Hopping the fence with ease, Malon dusts off her skirt when she lands. “Follow me, then. My name’s Malon.” She eyes the boy following behind the woman.

“Paya,” the woman states. She nudges the boy behind her.

“Oh… Sheik.” The boy’s voice is soft. If Malon hadn’t been paying attention, she probably wouldn’t have heard him. 

She leads them through the ranch to the barn as she talks. “I haven’t seen either of you around here before.”

The woman, Paya, doesn’t look at her. “Just passing through. Talon is an old friend. I hope to ask a favor of him.”

“What _kind_ of favor?”

Paya shoots a look at Sheik. “He mentioned always being able to use another hand, and the boy needs to learn discipline.”

Sheik has the grace to look ashamed, pulling his scarf up to hide the flush painting his nose and cheeks.

Eventually, Malon points Paya into an open door, and Paya gives Sheik a stern order to stick by Malon until she comes back. Paya shuts the door behind her, and despite how much Malon wants to stick around and eavesdrop, she just _knows_ she’ll get caught if she does.

Malon side-eyes Sheik. “So… wanna go see the horses?”

Sheik’s red eye lights up. He nods, and lets Malon drag him back to the paddock. The horses all crowd around the gate, like they always do when Malon approaches, and after she ushers Sheik through the gate she dutifully takes the satchel of carrots from their peg and follows him through.

She clicks her tongue and the horses back off a bit. She goes first to the one who remained the closest. “This one is Cotera,” she says to Sheik, pulling a carrot from the satchel and handing it to Sheik. “She likes being pet on the nose, and prefers the carrots big end first.”

Cotera is the most docile of the five horses in the paddock, and closes her eyes when Sheik approaches. Along with being the most docile, she’s also the laziest, and will wait for the carrots to come to her. Sheik gingerly reaches out to touch the mare. She shoves her nose right up into his hand and snuffs it. Immediately, he snatches his hand back.

“Don’t worry, she won’t hurt you. Cotera’s a big ol’ softy,” Malon reassures him. “Just be gentle with her.”

More cautiously this time, glancing back at Malon to make sure he’s doing everything right, Sheik reaches back towards Cotera. She snuffs at his hand again. This time, instead of pulling back, he gives her the carrot, just like Malon told him. Cotera scarfs it down with gusto, and neighs at him for more. Sheik turns to Malon expectantly, his eye now bright again, and she passes him another handful of carrots.

Though she turns to also give attention to the other horses, she keeps an eye on Sheik and Cotera. As soon as he thinks she’s not watching, Malon gets closer and tucks his head right next to Cotera’s cheek. He whispers something to her that Malon can’t hear, nor does she want to. What’s said to a horse is between you and the horse.

She gives him a few minutes. Her satchel empty, she turns back to him. He’s still talking to Cotera, his cheek against hers.

“You ever ridden a horse?”

Sheik turns towards her and shakes his head. “Not on my own. Once, with Im-- with Paya.”

Graciously ignoring his slip-up, Malon beckons him over to one side of the gate. She’d left the riding gear there after her morning exercise with Epona, certain she’d be taking out another of the mares later and also too lazy to drag it back to the barn between chores. She clicks her tongue again and calls for Cotera, who follows obediently

“Here’s how to saddle a horse.”

The rest of the afternoon is a wash after that. Dinner will have to be cold cuts and bread, because Malon spends the whole time teaching Sheik the basics of riding. The wind pushed his scarf down his face more than once, and his smile burned itself into Malon’s mind. It’ll take more than one riding lesson to get him anywhere near Malon’s level, but she figures she’ll have the time.

“You’re a natural at this!” She tells him. The sunset makes his hair burn bright, and the compliment makes his face the same color as the sun. For a moment, she wonders if this boy could be the girl she saw with Paya those four years ago. She wants to dismiss the idea-- the girl’s eyes had been blue, and Sheik’s (visible) eye is red-- but unless Paya or whatever her real name is has a habit of travelling with young blondes the same age as Malon, it’s the only explanation that fits.

Talon and Paya come to get them a few minutes later. Paya has negotiated for Sheik to help around the farm for a few weeks while she takes care of some business elsewhere that no-one sees fit to explain to Malon, but that’s probably for the best. She doesn’t have any interest in the machinations of strange well-muscled women who come and go in the night, or whatever might push a girl to masquerade as a boy.

She has her suspicions, for sure. A blonde girl, Malon’s age, forced to flee and change her identity four years ago, running from the Castle on the same night Ganondorf took power? There’s only so many possibilities. 

Over those next few weeks, Sheik catches on to the rhythms of ranch life quickly. He gets up even before Malon does to feed the chickens (once she shows him where the chicken feed is kept). He joins her on her morning rides. Cotera remains his favorite, and he spends his free time sitting with her in the stable or the paddock, brushing out and braiding her mane with wildflowers, calling her his _pretty girl_.

But he also learns that Kaysa will _only_ eat her carrots if they’ve been broken up for her already, and that Tera will be ridden with the faded red saddle but not the brown one even though the two are the same in every other way, and that Mija both can and will lie down and sleep on her side when the mood strikes her. He also learns to steer clear of Epona, but that was a lesson he only needed once.

He takes up residence on the floor of her bedroom. Malon learns quickly that it takes absolutely _nothing_ to fluster him, and teases him relentlessly. But she only makes a comment about her precious virtue once. He’s perfectly courteous about it, uptight, even. He leaves the room when she changes her clothes and likewise won’t change with her in the room. He sleeps at the foot of the bed where the baseboard hides them from each others’ sight. 

She’s sad to see him go when Paya returns for him. Once again, Paya and Talon lock themselves in the house to talk, and Malon takes Sheik back out to the paddock, where he takes one last, slow ride on Cotera. He gives her all the carrots he can carry. The mare seems to understand that this is goodbye.

While Sheik strokes Cotera’s head, Malon sits on the grass and makes a daisy chain. It’s pitiful. She’s always been terrible at making daisy chains, and Tera likes to eat the flowers before she ever gets the chance to practice more. “Come back someday,” Malon tells him. “Whenever. Just come back.”

Sheik nods. “I’ll bring something nice.”

“For the horses?” She teases.

“No. Just for Cotera.”

Malon gasps in false incredulity. “What that _sass_ from you?”

“Malon.”

“I’ll never recover. I’m going to lay down and die here. Of shock.”

“You’re making too big a deal out of this.”

“I am making a perfectly normal-sized deal out of this. You teased me back, Sheik, you’ve been here six weeks and that’s the first time you’ve done it back!”

He plucks some grass and throws it at her. Another thing he learned during his tenure. “Just the first time you heard me.”

She throws grass back. “That’s worse. You understand how that’s worse, right?” She stands and drops the flower crown on his head. He reaches up and touches it gently, like he can’t figure out what it is.

“I’ll bring _you_ something nice, too.”

Malon sees Paya approaching over Sheik’s shoulder. “Just coming back to see me will be enough. The horses would like ribbons, though. For their manes.”

Paya calls out to Sheik from the gate. He doesn’t turn. He keeps his eyes on Malon. “Only the finest silk.” Slowly making their way back to the gate, to where Sheik left his packed bag, he laughs. “What colors for them, do you think? Yellow for Cotera, for sure.”

Malon hums as she contemplates. “Blue for Epona,” she continues for him. “Green for Tera. I think purple for Mija, and pink for Kaysa. If you can manage it.”

“I’ll bring you all the ribbons you want.”

She shoves at his shoulder lightly. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. The _finest silk ribbons_ are expensive.”

“I promise you, when you next see me, I’ll be able to afford it.” His visible eye glints with a joke she doesn’t understand.

_You could tell me your name_ , she thinks. But she won’t say that with Paya so near. “I’m sure you will.”

**Author's Note:**

> yes i know that sheik has long hair in smash but the oot model does not so shut up
> 
> dont ask me where ingo is i forgot he exists and i dont want to add him in this is already late
> 
> also,,, i get so much joy from imagining oot impa, professional butch lesbian, walking up to a girl taking a nap in a horse field and asking if she works there like walking up to someone in a walmart vest in walmart and asking if they work at walmart
> 
> check me out on tumblr @fullmetalruby


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